Private Policy’s spring 2022 show opened in standard enough fashion for the downtown New York brand: with a lavender long-sleeve crop top plentiful with cutouts and white pants with purple organza legs. It ended notably, with a topless model wearing nothing but a netted tunic adorned with plastic flowers and Lucite high heels. Given that information, can you guess designers Haoran Li and Siying Qu’s inspiration? “This season we’re really exploring the idea of urban settings, with this organic form of plants and how these total opposite elements can mesh together so beautifully,” Qu said backstage. “We were really looking at how people fill their apartments with plants and just feel happier.”
Staged at Spring Studios, the runway was dotted with futuristic vertical planters. On each seat was a tabloid-size one-sheet titled “Urban Plants: Good for the Planet, Good for the Mind,” which was the title of the show as well. Sales from two of the pieces in the collection, a T-shirt and a silk bandana, will raise funds for the Liz Christy Garden. Founded in 1973, it was the first community garden in New York City.
All that sounds very Earth Mother, but the clothes were certainly filtered through the Private Policy lens. That is to say, a cool, club-kid perspective. The harness details on the pants, cutout necklines, and bomber jackets spoke to the brand’s audience. But there were some more grown-up touches. The second look was a lavender pencil skirt paired with a printed turtleneck featuring a floral design over some kind of askew grid—very ladylike. The organza featured throughout was also appealing, especially as a sheer overlay on skirts and dresses. Their subtle sexiness was a harbinger of things to come.
Let’s talk about those final three looks. The flowers on each daring netted tunic were made from recycled plastic, held together by metal chains for an open weave. It looked a bit like a trellis or maybe more like a mermaid caught in a net. Two of the models wore them only with shoes and nude underwear, while one wore them with black pants. Nudity aside, they’re the pieces from the collection I hope most to see out in the real world. Perhaps with a slip underneath.
